Boston

In Carroll and Sons’ back gallery, we can see all but one piece of Nancy Murphy Spicer's exhibition, Disrupted Drawings, before specific works call for undivided attention. The frames hang in grids on two adjacent walls that face large windows overlooking Harrison Avenue. Visitors first walk through the exhibition by Damien Hoar de Galvan to reach Murphy Spicer's show, and the slouchy, distinctly untrendy colors contrast with the blues, reds, and neons that de Galvan incorporates in his wood sculptures. – Shana Dumont Garr, Boston Contributor

Anthony Palocci’s (NAP #104) large-scale paintings are at first glance abstract grids of beautifully painted lines, repetitive marks that vibrate with painterly energy. Then, with a steady gaze, their thing-ness snaps into focus, taking enough time that you may indulge in the liminal shift, from the initial effect of reductive abstraction to a three-dimensional view. In Looking Up, I first saw an entire building with a few glowing windows, the accident of who was still awake in that building at 1 am, before I realized the subject was actually much closer to me. - Shana Dumont Garr, Boston Contributor

The turmoil of existence is a central theme to Raul Gonzalez III’s work as demonstrated in this exhibition through portrayals of displacement, disillusionment and hope in the American dream. In this collaboration, Elaine Bay’s make-shift rafts add weight to Gonzalez’s scenes of characters sailing away from their homelands, starting our journey and transforming the space at Villa Victoria in Boston’s South End into a moving storybook. Guided by the heavy use of art historical symbols of country and hardship, the handmade rafts and painted sails signify the wayward traveler. These small scale installations bring Gonzalez’s work into the viewer’s space, forcing us to walk around and internalize these feelings of leaving and loss. – Anna Schindelar, Boston Contributor

Alex Lukas (NAP #92) is one of the most prolific artists I know. When he's not experimenting in his studio or attending an artist residency, he is driving across the country gathering images of the US landscape for inspiration. In fact, I bet if he's traveling by plane nowadays he's rather bummed out.

To quote our publisher, Steven Zevitas, "In many ways, Lukas’ landscapes, which combine sites real and imagined - with a healthy nod towards Hollywood and art history - tell the end of the story, as man-made structures yield back to nature. The works pivot on series of dichotomies: violence and quietude; the manmade and the natural; hope and a profound sense of despair. They also grapple with ideas about national morality and societal fragility."

Boston, home of New American Paintings, was lucky enough to have him create an installation for the Converse Wall to Wall project. Check out these fantastic images of the installation process and final product. Enjoy! - Andrew Katz, Associate Publisher

Barry McGee’s recent retrospective highlights a common dilemma in the rising popularity of bringing street art into museums and galleries—namely, how do you capture the ephemeral nature of the work and evoke its urban context in a white cube, and how does the message of the artwork change? The ICA show sought to confront these dilemmas, and the result was a show that revealed itself as an environment more than simply a survey. Replete with floor-to-ceiling wall installations, animatronic sculptures, and a massive totem of 130 television screens, the show drew heavily on McGee’s Bay Area roots and graffiti aesthetic. - Nadiah Fellah, NYC Contibutor (Visiting Boston!)

Guy Yanai’s solo exhibition, Lived & Laughed & Loved & Left at La Montagne gallery is a show of paintings corresponding to recent photographic technologies in mobile devices. Looking through his iPhone, Yanai is always taking notes of things he sees in the world around him by making pictures. With this information he begins to build his paintings. - Anthony Palocci Jr., Boston Contributor

Anthony Palocci (NAP #104) is a thing painter. He likes to paint things, household objects mostly, such as phones, air conditioners and ovens. He likes to paint the things that he sees in his every day life. His latest work on view at Lot F Gallery in Boston features many items taken directly from the artist’s environment. One of the most striking paintings is a huge, blue and yellow tiled shower stall straightforwardly titled Shower, 2013.

Saul Chernick’s current exhibition, A Skyward Gesture, at LaMontagne Gallery, consists of two bodies of work including a series of relief prints and another of ink and marker drawings with watercolor on paper. He uses medieval landscapes and images of saints, demons, and other mythical creatures to draw connections to our contemporary situation. Though his characters may be out of place as the prophets and other roles they might have represented in antiquity, they remain symbols of an older world, a place filled with magic and superstition. The all seeing eyes of God, the inevitability of

I was wandering around our quiet South of Washington Avenue neighborhood this afternoon and grabbed some photos from terrific summer shows at surrounding Galleries. I made it in to see Material Abstraction at Howard Yezerski Gallery, featuring works by Bob Oppenheim, Carter Potter, Ulrich Wellmann, and Brian Zink (A serial NAP Featured artist). From there I checked out Nancy Murphy Spicer's, Biking in Berlin at Carroll and Sons Art Gallery. Finally, I stopped in to see my friend Arlette, owner of Gallery Kayafas, who has a show called Intra Country: Patriotic Expressions. It is a sweet and summery combination of photographs (gallery specialty), paintings, and installations both sculptural and video.

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